Dalia Stasevska
Joshua Bell Thomas de Hartmann
Aaron Copland
Benjamin Britten

Aaron Copland (1900–1990) composed his iconic Fanfare for the Common Man in 1942, following the United States’ entry into World War II. The title was inspired by Vice President Henry A. Wallace’s famous speech envisioning the 20th century as “the Century of the Common Man.” The fanfare remains one of the most popular pieces in American classical music.

Thomas de Hartmann (1884–1956) grew up in what is now Ukraine, made his breakthrough as a composer in St. Petersburg, and later lived in Georgia and Turkey before settling in Paris. His music reflects influences from many countries and styles. After the German occupation, he sought refuge in an abandoned building, where he composed his Violin Concerto in 1943.

Bohdana Frolyak (b. 1968) grew up in the Ukrainian countryside and has lived in Lviv, western Ukraine’s largest city, since the 1980s, where she studied and later taught composition. Her orchestral work Let There Be Light premiered at the BBC Proms in 2023. The music portrays the struggle between light and darkness and is inspired by the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) composed Sinfonia da Requiem for the 2600th anniversary of the Japanese Empire. However, the commissioners rejected it due to its references to the Catholic funeral mass, and the project was abandoned. The work was ultimately premiered in New York in 1941. A committed pacifist, Britten stated that he had written the piece to be as anti-war as possible.